Brooklinite goes for Beckett at Factory Theatre

Thursday

Mar 27, 2014 at 1:26 PMMar 27, 2014 at 1:26 PM

By R. Scott ReedyWicked Local Arts correspondent

What better way to mark a solitary 69th birthday than by listening to tapes of your own musings made throughout the course of your life? That’s what the title character in Samuel Beckett’s one-act, one-man play "Krapp’s Last Tape" decides to do, anyway, as he eschews birthday cake in favor of bananas and reflections on happiness, a woman, and writing. Actor, director, musician, and writer Steven Barkhimer climbs inside the mind of Krapp in the Fort Point Theatre Channel production currently at Boston’s Factory Theatre to tackle a role he was destined to play."I’ve loved this piece for decades. It was written by Beckett in 1958, the year I was born. Typically Beckett, it is both very funny and hauntingly sad," explained Barkhimer by telephone from his home in Brookline recently. "I read it for the first time, either in high school or college, as a fan of Beckett, who has long been a hero of mine. It is one of Beckett’s acknowledged masterpieces."The Irish-born Beckett was an avant-garde novelist, playwright, and poet who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing, which – in new forms for the novel and drama – in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation." His other plays include "Waiting for Godot" (1952), "Endgame" (1957) and "Happy Days" (1961). Beckett wrote "Krapp’s Last Tape" for one of his collaborators, the Irish actor Patrick Magee, with the role performed more recently by Brian Dennehy, John Hurt and Harold Pinter. In the play, Krapp uses an old tape recorder to listen to recordings of himself he made at 39, commenting on those and even earlier days, and recording new thoughts on the most recent year of his life."The younger Krapp is more buoyant, strong-voiced," according to Barkhimer, whose own voice was recorded for this production. "The writing bears out the differences in the character. The later Krapp speaks in bursts. He no longer speaks in the bigger sentences of a younger man, because the unnecessary in his life is simply disappearing. The earlier Krapp takes an elegiac tone, which the older Krapp recognizes in his younger self as presumption. "That’s the stupid bastard I took myself for 30 years ago," he says.Barkhimer, whose work as both an actor and director has been seen at Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Underground Railway Theater and other local companies in recent seasons, acknowledges portraying Krapp can cut close to home."Whether imagining Krapp’s life or just reflecting on one’s own, it is hard not to wonder, ‘Did I ever really think that way?’ The nexus of where the character exists in the text and yourself sounds mystical, but it is actually a practical concern. ‘I can’t believe I was ever as bad as that,’ Krapp says. I’ve felt the same way. When you speak a truth like that, it is like you don’t have to act."Barkhimer has, however, been acting since age 26 when he made it his full-time profession. The Maryland native spent 15 years pursuing his career in New York before moving to Massachusetts in 1998."Boston has been a good place for me. I look for opportunities as a writer, director and musician, but acting is my mainstay. It is what keeps me busy. I had a play of mine called ‘Windowmen’ produced at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre last fall, though, too, and I was delighted to learn recently that it has been nominated for two IRNE awards this year – as Best Play and Best New Play – by the Independent Reviewers of New England."Based on his own experiences staffing the window at New York’s Fulton Street fish market right after college, Barkhimer began working on "Windowmen" while enrolled in the Creative Writing Program at Boston University. "It is a comedy with dramatic elements about my time as a cashier/clerk/accountant with lots and lots of money that comes in at this very fast-paced wholesale fish market. It is like the stock market, but with fish. It was my first play produced by someone other than myself which was great, because Playwrights’ Theatre is a wonderful laboratory for new works."While he waits to see how his play fares at the IRNE Awards on April 7, Barkhimer will be busy bringing "Krapp’s Last Tape" to life on a double bill with a new play, "The Archives," by Skylar Fox, artistic director at Boston’s Circuit Theatre Company. And while he is relishing his first experience acting in a Beckett play, he is also hoping it won’t be his last."I’m 14 years shy of Krapp’s age, but weather like we’ve had this winter can do a lot to a person," says Barkhimer, 55, with a laugh. "Being younger doesn’t worry me a bit, although I’d like to do it again at 69.""Krapp’s Last Tape" and "The Archives"WHEN: March 27 through April 12 WHERE: The Factory Theatre, 791 Tremont St., Boston TICKETS: Start at $15 INFO: 617-750-8900; fortpointtheatrechannel.org

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